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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

PCLinuxOS is an English only live CD initially based on Mandrake Linux that runs entirely from a bootable CD. Data on the CD is uncompressed on the fly, allowing up to 2GB of programs on one CD including a complete X server, KDE desktop, OpenOffice.org and many more applications all ready to use. In addition to the live CD, you can also install PCLinuxOS to your hard drive with an easy-to-use livecd-installer. Additional applications can be added or removed from your hard drive using a friendly apt-get front end via Synaptic.

Texstar and the Ripper Gang are pleased to announce the final release of PCLinuxOS 2007. Featuring kernel 2.6.18.8, KDE 3.5.6, OpenOffice.org 2.2.0, Firefox 2.0.0.3, Thunderbird 2.0, FrostWire, KTorrent, Amarok, Flash, Java JRE, Beryl 3D and much more. Almost 2 GB of software compressed on a single bootable live CD that can be installed to a hard drive provided it is compatible with your system and you like the distribution. Over 5000+ additional packages available through our Synaptic Software Manager. Please note: PCLinuxOS does not ship with Win32 codecs or DVD decryption software. Proprietary NVIDIA and ATI drivers available after hard drive install

Before I get technical, I will say: PCLinuxOS is the ideal release for a beginning Linux user. With its Control Centre and automatic detection and setup of most hardware, the non-geek can use Linux without too much trouble.

PCLinuxOS originally forked from Mandrake (as was) 9.2. From the first public release, it was possible to upgrade to the next version without a re-install. However, by the time version 0.93a arrived, excellent though it was, its time had run out. Many source files would no longer compile against the v3 compilers without a few ugly hacks, and bringing in the new, v4.1 compilers meant a complete rewrite of every package.

It would have been easy, I guess, for Texstar and the gang to just recompile everything as was, but using the new compiler. But they had more ambitious ideas than that and the real guts of PCLinuxOS has been improved tremendously. Christmas saw a Test Release of PCLinuxOS 2007, a necessary step because, as a small distro built by a small group of volunteers, it was impossible to test the new base on a sufficient range of hardware. Whilst the majority had no problems with it, a number of people did and Texstar, ever the perfectionist, decided not to move to a full release but to go through 3 further test releases before issuing the Final on 20th May 2007.

Maybe it's the fact that it is a small team of people, rather than a big company, but the distro has attracted a whole cottage industry of connected sites/projects dealing with graphics, hardware capability and so on. So if you thought that the last version was a looker, then the new one is a real beaut. The default mouse behaviour is that icons require a double-click like Windows, less confusing for the new Linux user, easily changed from KDE Control Centre (which takes care of personal desktop stuff).

Although it's a complete new build, many of the good ideas introduced in version 0.93a have been kept and built upon. PCLinuxOS Control Centre (systemwide adjustments) has been beefed up even more, the strip-down of KDE has been retained, splitting up certain packages and not including much of the bloat, which creates space on the disk for OpenOffice, and also means that it goes faster. Though it's all there waiting in the repositories should you want it.

Booting up the LiveCD has changed. On the way, you get prompted for details to set up your keyboard, the time zone (and whether you want NTS), and your internet connection. If you then choose to install, these values are retained in your installed version. The are alternate boot/video modes for people who may have awkward hardware, to get them a desktop so that they can deal with it from there.

The improved installation of 0.93a still features. It's easy to use, you've got automated "partitioning" as an option, or you can use existing partitions, or you can customise it yourself. You can also choose between LILO and GRUB, however Graphical Lilo has been abandoned, if you want a graphical bootup you need to select Grub as your bootloader.

Hardware detection is improved further. As with any Linux, there is always the danger that something does not work (under any Linux), but for stuff that is Linux-compatible, the detection is excellent. Once you have installed, you can use "Synaptic" to add more packages, including the various essentials like libdvdcss, and a number of closed codecs, which are not on the CD for legal reasons.

Bootup is measurably one of the fastest. Closedown is also pretty quick now, too. After a temporary closure when the hosts were unable to deal with the sheer volume of traffic the site was creating, the site (still http://www.pclinuxos.com) now has dedicated hosting from a partnership deal with ENKI consulting. There were some teething troubles there at first, but now it's up and going. It's a good forum, safe for newbies, and one where you can even get answers from Texstar himself. The WIKI is being rebuilt.

A small number of packagers (though maybe more than in the past), script hackers and testers have been involved in putting the new release together, with Texstar somehow managing to let people get on with stuff but still keep overall control. New scripts have been written which allow users to install nvidia and ati video drivers from the repository, and which correct the graphics configuration file (/etc/X11/xorg.conf), whilst restoring the original if you uninstall the drivers.

Beryl and Compiz have been included, with the full range of spinning cubes and wobbly windows, with an applet in the Control Centre for "central" inclusion. Alternately, there are instructions at the site so that individual users can control whether Beryl runs on their individual desktop.

In my case, all hardware was detected apart from the TV card which, incidentally, I can't get working in Windows either so I think it's faulty. Actually it is detected correctly it just doesn't seem to work which backs up the last sentence! The printer had to be selected from a list, everything else just goes. My new computer has a USB Multicard reader, and it has a SATA DVDRW with lightscribe as well as a SATA Hard Drive. I found that when I tried to install 0.93a on it, as with many distros dating from mid-2006, there was confusion over drive letter allocations, with SATA drive and Card Reader completely confusing one another. No such problem at all in the 2007 release.

Whilst many users report great results at the forum with older hardware, it's the fact that it just works on my more modern AM2/SATA based system which impresses me most.

As in the past, you need 256Mb Ram to run the Live CD, a pre-requisite to installation. It's easy to run, install and maintain. The forums are helpful. Every release just gets better.

The previous review has been very thorough in describing pclinux0s, and I subscribe to all the praise. I am not a power user -- basic tasks -- but have fascination with the linux world. I have used recent versions of Mepis, ubuntu, mint, sabayon, mandriva, and vector. While each have some good points, it is a toss up between mepis and pclinuxos for ease of use right out of the box. Mepis has the slight edge only because it recgnized my wireless driver, while pclinux did not. Fortunately, setting up the connection was quick and painless. It was not so with most of the other distros I tried (bearing in mind that I use the livecds first before installing).
I love the look of pclinux, and that is the main reason it is now my distro of choice.

As most users who first try out a Linux distribution, Ubuntu is the first. However, PCLOS offers a serious challenge to Ubuntu and most other distros that are labeled as "user friendly".

First, one of the thing that PCLOS has that other lack is its own control center. No, not KControl, but a very easy to use CC that I find better than the one in Windows. You can do everything from setting up a firewall to configuring your graphics card.

Second is the speed. I never thought KDE could be this fast, but it is. Firefox loads in about 3-4 seconds on my Sempy 3400+.

Third is package management. RPM distros often get a bad rep because of slow speed and dependency hell. PCLinuxOS solves this by using apt-get/Synaptic to manage your packages, which hasn't given me an issue on either PCLOS or Debian.

The only drawback is that it's still a new distro, so the servers will tend to go down from time to time due to its popularity. It's also not officially supported by a huge community like Debian or financially backed by a company like Fedora, but otherwise it's definitely worth a look at.

There are some computers that are simply NOT COMPATIBLE with the Mandriva kernel, and it will not boot on those machines

First of all, I would like to say that I LOVE this distro. Easy setup, great networking support, great for newbs. BUT, there are several computers that I know of that SIMPLY WILL NOT BOOT ANYTHING BASED ON MANDRIVA 2007! By all means, try it. But keep in mind that it may not work.

For those people that thought PCLinuxOS was for them, try Kubuntu, or my personal favorite, the Fedora 7 KDE LiveCD.

I've been using/testing different linux distro's since 2000. I had just recently been using Ubuntu 7.04 and Prior to that Debian Testing. Just for the heck of it I decided to try out PCLinuxOS 2007 and I was extremely impressed to say the least. After the initial install had completed I was amazed to find out that flash, java, mplayer and all their related plug-ins for Firefox were all installed by default. I could literally get on the internet right after the install and not have to worry about installing Flash, Java or other multi-media plug-ins.

I also liked the fact that it uses apt-get/Synaptic for the package manager. I was able to use it to install packages like Google-earth and Frostwire right from the default repositories. I didn't expect those packages to be included in PCLOS's repositories by default. I didn't have to edit the sources.list and add any repositories.

Installing my Nvidia driver was was a piece of cake as well, just simply click on the included package inside of Synaptic. That's it done deal.

Another thing that impressed me about PCLinuxOS is the look and feel of it, it doesn't look cheap. It has nice solid look to it.

Bottom line is, of all the Linux distro's I have tried (including the most recent version of Ubuntu) this took the least amount of effort to get up an running after the initial installation completed. Needless to say this is now my OS of choice hands down.

This is the best distro I have seen - at least for a Linux beginner. It *really* does work 'out of the box'. It even let me easily configure my ATI card for optimal settings and Open GL; no other distro I've tried has offered the same. I heartily recommend every Linux user and wannabe to try this distro.

Despite the above, I am not going to donate any money to the developers until they provide a venue of support that does not force me to sign up with Google. This is a serious flaw, so my rating can only be 9.

I give a free CD of PCLinuxOS 2007 to all of my customers. I would never do that with any other Linux distro, and I've used many of them.

Software updates are frequent and they are easy to install. I use the Synaptic package manager once a week to Reload -> Mark Upgrades -> Apply. Very easy.

The software repository for PCLinuxOS is excellent. I rarely have to install software from the developers' kit. I find almost every software application that I can think of in the PCLOS repository ready to install with Synaptic package manager. The only software that I had to install from the developers' kit is True Crypt. That was installed using the sources and it went very smoothly with no problems at all.

Whether you need a desktop system, a server, or a network appliance I would recommend PCLOS 2007 for any and all missions.

PCLOS installs extremely fast, probably taking less than the 20-25 minutes MEPIS requires. I haven't gotten it connected to my wireless network yet, but it at least detects the network, which is more than some distros can do; I expect to be connected soon. PCLOS now has OpenOffice, which is the main reason I didn't like it before. It always seems able to read what's on my Windows partition without trouble, which is an inexplicable problem for some distros (including MEPIS and Fedora Core 5) even though the Windows partition is FAT32. Being at least initially Mandriva-based, it has the same ugly system font.

I've tried Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Slackware, SuSE, VectorLinux & Mandriva, and now this. I'm in love with it, it simply... WORKS. The installation process can be done even by a 7years old kid, no problems at all.
I'd suggest using LILO as a bootloader, firstly installed it with GRUB and it caused me some problems, then reinstalled with LILO and it works perfectly now.

the only con I found, is the Wacom thingy. I've been reading the Linux Wacom project HOWTO, and I still cannot get it to work, which kinda pisses me off. Other than that, an amazingly user-friendly distro.

I have dabbled with Linux, on and off, for a number of years, starting when I tried installing Red Hat 6 on a Compaq LTE5200. Prior to this current install, to a Compaq Evo N600c, my last look at Linux was to install SimplyMEPIS on an Armada M700 over a year ago. That install went well, and that was the first distro I reached for with this current machine, but MEPIS has changed, and my hardware was not all detected well with the current release. I read some good things about PCLinuxOS and decided to give it a try. I am glad that I did. I am quite the Linux novice, and for me, the install went exceedingly well. My hardware was detected correctly, and updating via Synaptic was quite intuitive. I had no problem getting on the net through my little home LAN, both when I ran it as a Live CD and once installed. One of the things that impressed me greatly was the option to allow PCLinuxOS to determine how to slice up my hard drive. I let it go to work, and in the end, it was pretty close to what I had guessed that it should be. I would have given a little more room to /HOME and a little less to SWAP.
As I mentioned, the machine is a Compaq Evo N600c, with a 1.2Ghz Intel Pentium III CPU, and 1.0GB of RAM installed. I used a separate hard drive to install Linux on. My WinXP drive will probably be collecting dust for some time to come, as I so far have not found anything I cannot do with PCLinuxOS on my machine.

I am a difficult man to please. I want my cake, and I'd better darn well be able to eat it, too.

PCLinuxOS 2007 was the distro that I started with. I've since tried SUSE 10.1, Ubuntu/Kubuntu 7.04 Fiesty Fawns, Sabayna (I can't remember how to spell it), and Ark Linux. Out of all these distro's, PCLOS really stands out for its ease of use, and the fact that everything seems to work, with minimal (if any) fuss.

I've used PCLOS on two aging computers, one with barely 256 MB of RAM and a 10 Gig HDD. PCLOS runs smoothly on both. I was also glad to see Firefox, and Open Office, as I'd been using Windows versions of these programs for well over a year.

Configuration and tweaking are simple and efficient tasks with this distro. To date, I haven't seen a Command Center in other distro's (unless you count YAST in SUSE). This alone makes PCLOS worth a look.

My wireless worked out of the box. I was up and running in no time. To be fair, my wireless adapter is old, so your results may vary.

My only real complaints with PCLOS, are a lack of a PIM type application (although you can download these via Synaptic), and the fact that the Synaptic window is difficult to read. Text is great, as is color coding, but I wish the presentation were better.

PCLOS is the perfect distro for the Linux novice (like me). One thing that I would like to see, is a more portable installer format. I don't have an internet connection on the home computer, so all of my updates would have to be done like I did with Windows. You know, download an EXE/MSI, and then put it on a USB stick for transport. I can't deal with all of this command line stuff right now; time is at a premium for me these days. Give me simple point and click with a minimal of fuss. But to be fair, this is more of a problem with Linux in general than it is with PCLOS.

This distro is great. I've tried to find other distro's to convert to, but I keep coming back to PCLOS. As their slogan says, "Radically Simple". I'm glad to see that there's someone in the Linux community that gets it, and that they work hard to bring Linux to a wider range of users.

I would heartily recommend this distro to newbies and veterans alike. Even if you're a hardened command line type, it's still worth a look. As for you Windows users, why not come home? Throw off your chains and dump Billie Gates... he doesn't love you the way that Linux can...

What can I say that the others haven't ? (Hopper Stopper ?)It will be the one that gets insatlled instead of just used as a Live CD. I normally like Debian distros, have tried Zen Walk and Ubuntu(Hated both), Kanotix and DSL(like them both alot)and have Linspire installed. I am looking for any reason to dump Linspire,(for a number of reasons) and I think I've found it. So far the only minor annoyance I've found is that I havent been able to "stealth" port 113 (it's closed though) which is not that big a deal I suppose. The WORD is PCLinuxOS, pass it on....

Would you recommend the product? no | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 5

Pros:

Good software. Things do work.

Cons:

Poor sysop moderators

The software works great. However, PCLOS has the rudest moderators I have had the displeasure to meet. 90% of them are very good. The other 10% are terribly bad and rude. So when you evaluate a distro, don't just eval the software. Evaluate the entire package.

I love this Distribution - Texstar and the Ripper Gang do some wonderful work on a Variant of Mandriva and made it Rock Solid. One of 2 I use, the other is the Mother of this PCLinuxOS 2007, Mandriva Power Pack 2007.1 is the one I am on.

The name, &quot;PCLinuxOS&quot; or even &quot;PCLOS&quot; hardly enchants?

After using Fedora, Suse and Mandriva each for some months and having a bit of a shot with Ubuntu and Slackware and an unsuccessful literal wrestle with FreeBSD, the sheer simplicity of PCLinuxOS is just delightful. I even managed to get my daughter and her husband as well as several families not in the "computer people" category on to Linux and... leave them at ease at the keyboard. I noticed a friend, who switched to PCLinuxOS at the same time as I did, won his Windows-loyal teenage daughter who finally firmly conceded that PCLOS is, to even her, much better than Vista.

I tend to think that the combination of the Synaptic Package manager and the Mandriva Control Centre is the winning trick. I have always been rpm oriented but gathered the Debian based apt-get package management was better recommended. This is just ideal.

I've tried all the popular distros and quite a few obscure ones. I work with and troubleshoot Windows and the latter Mac distros .PCLOS 2007 is by far my favorite. It works with my external drives, it installs in very little time.
The control center is great. I just wish as with all Linux distros that I could
run Photoshop and Quicken and not in Wine. I use the live cd to troubleshoot
customer's boxes and I can take my live cd with me.

With almost 6 months of use; I can say I am glad I found it and and am staying with it.
The things that keep me using this distro:

1. Packages: Almost everything I can think of, is available on one of the default repos ... you might have to find the one that works for you, but texstar generally is pretty good.

2. Stability: Nothing is broken, from the install or since, even using any of the packages hasn't really caused any harm.

3. New things: I hooked up an Ipod and it using gnome tools was able to pull out all files out of it ..

4. Ruby/gems/rake .. all built and ready to use rather having to hunt at 100 places !!

Things I can't get to work !!

1. My TV card, it's old and I didn't install it when I installed the distro, but now neither mythTv nor xawtv sees the picture.

2. Bluetooth, again I didn't connect the dongle when I installed it initially, now I might have to play with it to work but I haven't seen it getting detected.

Now it's a #1 on distrowatch.com, you won't be disappointed.

Don't pay attention to some of the the lower ratings in the reviews; for example by davecs, who, for all his arithmetic wizzardary can't find the edit button.

I see davecs has written a rejoinder to my earlier edit, which was harsh in calling him a moron.
Now I am even a bit more unhappy, if he knows how the site uses the arithmetic, how comes he didn't know the edit button to just add his two lines.

Most people reading reviews would assume many low marks mean a negative experience. So such reviews do more harm than good.

This site should stop people from writing two reviews.

Another guy gives it 5 because he doesn't like the mod's on their site .. well boohoo. Such criticism might make some people happy but I would just rate these things on -out of box- experience.

And Phidor recommends it and gives it a 0 rating ..what's up with this? Guys .. please help others by paying attention yourselves.

If these mensa members were paying attention, this distro would be correctly rated above 9.5 or so .. where it belongs.

i've been using linux off and on for about 5 years, and i have to say that this is probably one of the best distro's i've encountered.. fast install, everything pretty much works from the get go... what more could you ask for?

Above reviews are right on the money. I have tried Fedora, *buntu, BLAG, Kanotix, Puppy, Mandriva, Knoppix, CentOS, Mepis, etc.... Inability to upgrade v.93 due to repackaging of apps was a hiccup, but in all a great user friendly AND USABLE system.

This distro is headed in the right direction. Texstar has taken all the good stuff in Mandriva (like the MCC) and really honed and polished it. I am now using PCLOS as my main machine to run my business. I think Tex gets it!

An old 1999 HP computer set up used with dual boot WinXP Pro and Ubuntu /SuSE, However must shift rooms due house alteration. Trying to get to work wirelessly on Win Xp (OK) on Linux with USD set up -no go! However try PCLinuxOS 2007 and it finds USB wireless adapter and works first time from live disc. This was better than installed Linux OSs (SuSE 10.2/ Ubuntu 7.04 or even Knoppix 5.1.1

I finaly manged to get linux on my windoze machine with this distro after failing with Ubuntu, SUSE, and older Mandriva distros. I think I like SUSE a bit better when able to install but PCLinux did the job and I would reccomend it to anyone like myself not so experienced with linux.

i have tried many other distros...MDV, Suse, ubuntu, kubuntu, slackware
PCL really made me enjoy linux...
it needs some little adjustments and configurations but thats mainly for the sake of personalization...or for fixing drivers which would need much more work on other distros i tried...i didnt need any driver fixes myself even for wireless lan which is a big problem everywhere else...
the package is very nicely collected and installs out of the box really...
now im really not interested even to try other distros... i downloaded a couple after i installed pcl but didnt take much time to put the cds back to the case without thinking twice to keep this lovely distro on...
the community is as great and friendly and helpful as all linux community worldwide...
now really i can enjoy much more time discovering capabilities of linux and different software...time that i consumed b4 fixing troubles on other distros... and still i cant believe that its really totally for free...
all u need it to install the system and do ur updates and manage ur packages from the very powerful thus simple synaptic button and enjoy ur own system...
i totally recommend that atleast u give it a try...
well done developers...keep up the good work
PS... i rated it 9 just to urge u for reaching perfection:-)

This is my 3rd install of PclinuxOS, I have tried loads of others but always come back to this one. We have it on 2 Desktops and a Laptop, and no problems on any of them. I am not a Linux expert or anything near, but that's why I choose this distro, it just works, no struggling through forums to make thinks happen, (not yet anyway)I would highly recommend Pclinux.